


Blighted Tranquility

by violasarecool



Series: What Can 8 Grey Wardens Do? [23]
Category: Dragon Age: Origins - Awakening
Genre: Gen, Injury, Nonbinary Character, Tranquil Warden, Trans Character
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-30
Updated: 2017-09-17
Packaged: 2018-08-12 00:28:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 3,642
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7913368
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/violasarecool/pseuds/violasarecool
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>adison amell is a tranquil warden, an uncommon combination. when they're found injured by the fereldan wardens, kit quickly befriends zir.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> adison is pangender and uses rolling pronouns he/she/they/zie. kit is nonbinary (she/they)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> as merle, velanna, sigrun, nathaniel and kit attempt to escape the architect's lair, they come across an injured warden.

They found zir as they ran through the Architect's cavernous tunnels.

It was dark, and the torches mounted periodically in the cave walls barely illuminated a few yards around them; so when they took a wrong turn into a dead end, it was only Sigrun's arm on Merle's shoulder that stopped them from stepping on the body on the ground.

Or rather, the person, Merle thought, as they stirred.

"You're not darkspawn," came a weak voice, and Merle decided to risk a bit of magical light, lighting a ball of cool blue light in their palm. On the ground lay a human, a Warden, the gryphon on her silver armour glinting in the dim light. "Wardens," zie said, apparently noting the armour of Merle and their companions.

"You're hurt," Merle said, their gaze falling to the bloodied mess where their knees ended.

"There's more darkspawn ahead," the Warden said, as Merle dropped to their knees, rummaging in their pack. "There were more of us, but I think the others are dead. We were attacked by a ton of darkspawn, a hundred or so, maybe. I think some went up to the surface, but you're probably still outnumbered."

"That's not important right now, save your strength," Merle said, leaning down to examine the Warden's mangled legs. They peeled back the fabric from the wound to dribble water from their water skin on the exposed flesh, dark with dirt and muck.

"It doesn't matter," he said, watching Merle unconcernedly. "I'm tranquil, it doesn't hurt." Merle glanced up for a moment, eyes widening with surprise. "You should go," she said, "I can't help you like this."

Merle blinked, then shook their head. "No," they said briskly, "I'm not going to just leave you here." They looked around at Velanna. "Help me," they said, and she sighed.

"You want us to waste even more time on them?" she demanded. "They may not even live!"

"They're a Grey Warden, and it's my duty to help them. You can stand by and do nothing, or make this quicker."

"Fine," Velanna spat, and she crouched down beside them.

"You should really get going," the Warden murmured, but their voice was weakening, and Merle ignored them, focusing now as light began to stream from their hands, swirling down to encircle the Warden's legs. A moment later, Velanna began to do the same, the light filling the small tunnel's end.

The injured Warden watched impassively as the flow of blood began to slow, skin knitting itself back together. When the wound was fully covered over, Merle sat back, glow fading. Velanna stood up, arms crossed. "There," she said, "now they won't die of blood loss, at any rate. Are we finished? Or are we going to drag their body along behind us?"

"She's right," the Warden said, "I'll just slow you down."

Merle sighed. "It's probably safer for you here anyway, unless more darkspawn return... We'll be back," they promised.

"Ok," the Warden said.

Sigrun and Nathaniel were standing by the end of the tunnel, and Merle moved to join them, flipping their bag closed as they walked. Kit, on the other hand, hesitated as they watched the others go. "Are you sure you're gonna be ok?" Kit murmured, glancing at their legs with concern.

"I don't know," the Warden said, "I didn't learn about healing magic before they made me Tranquil."

Kit shuddered. "That's awful..."

"Kit!" Merle called, and she glanced behind her; the others had already left. "Coming!" She turned back to the Warden. "Hey, uh... what's your name?"

"Adison," the Warden said.

"I'm Kit," she said.

"Kit!" Merle called again, their voice taking an irritated tone.

"Alright, alright!" she shouted. "We're coming back for you, Adison," she promised, and then she was running after the others, hoping desperately that time and darkspawn wouldn't make her a liar.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> as adison heals, kit talks to them to pass the time

The Grey Wardens have been up in Amaranthine for a few weeks now. They're a damned bizarre sight, nothing like the city guard. Only a dozen of them, and from all over Fereldan, plus a few _Orlesians._ There's a handful dwarves (which you don't often get up in this part), elves armed to the teeth, the late Teryn Cousland's daughter and one of those _Howes,_ some mage they say is on the run from the Chantry—there's more magic here than you can shake a stick at. And now they've gone and dragged back a _Tranquil_ looking like something took a bite out of them.

I'll take their money as long as they have it, but they sure are a bedraggled lot.

_—excerpt of a note from travelling merchant Kent Berland_

* * *

"I have a few moments before I need to get back to the other recruits," Quentin said, watching as Anders packed up his healing kit. "Is there anything else you need?"

"No, that's all I'm going to try today, I think," Anders said. He gave the stumps of Adison's legs a critical look, then nodded. "I don't want to go too quickly. You two can get back to gossiping," he said, casting an amused look at Kit, who sat perched on the edge of a chair a few feet away.

"We're not _gossiping,"_ Kit said.

"Better watch out the Commander doesn't put you on report," Anders said, grinning, and Kit narrowed their eyes at him.

"Ignore him, you're fine," Quentin said, shaking his head. "Don't tease them," he said to Anders as they left, the door swinging closed with a gentle click.

"Gossiping," Kit huffed. "He's one to talk. And we weren't even gossiping!"

"He's trying to get a rise out of you," Adison observed.

"I know, it's just _so annoying,_ you know?"

"Not really... I don't remember being annoyed much."

"Right. Well. You're lucky you don't feel stuff like that anymore _,_ because take it from me, he is _super_ annoying," Kit exclaimed, rolling their eyes.

"Ok," Adison said. They made a motion towards the stump of zir right leg with their hand, gently probing the surface.

"It really doesn't hurt?" Kit asked cautiously.

"No."

"Because you're Tranquil?"

"That's right."

Kit watched as Adison pulled their hand back, revealing the swollen surface of the still-healing flesh just below their knees. It had been a few days since they'd brought him back with them from the Architect's lair, wounded, weak from blood loss, but uncomplaining. That was something Kit still wasn't used to—zir complete resignation to whatever happened. Or, maybe resignation wasn't the right word; she seemed perfectly content to lie back on the bed while Anders did a twice daily healing session, knitting their flesh back together with magic.

Kit had asked zir many times about what it was like to be Tranquil: Did she feel pain (no), did he feel cold or warm (sort of, but not in an uncomfortable way), could zie feel it when they touched things (yes, and sometimes he felt like someone was touching her legs even though they were gone, which Anders reassured Kit was perfectly normal).

It wasn't as if Kit had never _seen_ Tranquil before. Merle often had contact with the mages in Orlais, and the Tranquil were always there in the background, quietly working on transcribing something or other, cleaning, enchanting. But they were always busy, and Kit was a new recruit with little free time, so they'd never had the occasion to talk to them. From their reputation, though, Kit had expected something... different. They certainly hadn't pictured a quiet-voiced warrior like Adison when imagining the Tranquil; she was underwhelmingly normal.

Though not boring.

"You fought off a  _dragon?"_ Kit exclaimed, legs curled under them as they sat by Adison's bed, listening to more stories about zir time as a Warden. It was a good way of passing both Kit's free time and Adison's, well, entire time as a bed-bound patient. Kit told him about the forest and their clan, Adison told them about the Circle, the Wardens, and parts of Orlais Kit had never been to. And, ok, sometimes the conversations they had at night in quiet murmurs could be considered 'gossiping'. But Kit would never admit that to _Anders._

"How big was it?" Kit demanded. "Did it breathe fire?"

"About the size of a house in the quartier gris. And yeah."

"Wow," Kit said. "You're super lucky, I was in Orlais a _year_ and I never saw any dragons."

"They're not very common," Adison said. "We were in the caverns way out of the city, a new recruit like you wouldn't have been sent on patrols down there."

"Damn."

"You wouldn't want to see one, anyway. It could kill you."

"Yeeeahhh," Kit said, drawing out the word as her nose scrunched ever further up, "but that's part of the _fun."_

"A lot of Wardens seem to have fun when they're in danger of dying," Adison said.

Kit giggled. "Kinda part of the job description."

"I guess."

Kit huffed at a stray hair floating into their eyes. "But also, about the dragon thing, we don't see dragons very often. If _ever._ I wanna see one up close, see something new. Yanno?"

"Yeah," Adison said, nodding. "People wanted to see me when I got here. In Orlais as well, when I joined the Wardens."

"Ooh," Kit grimaced. "Sorry, I... I kinda did that too, didn't I, shit. I am _so sorry."_

"It's ok," Adison said.

"Creators," Kit muttered. "You must get bothered by people a lot."

"It doesn't bother me," Adison said.

"Yeah, but... it's not like you  _want_ people staring at you," Kit said.

"No," Adison agreed. "Sometimes it made it hard to run errands. People are wary around me, some refused to talk to me."

"Gross."

"It helps when they can't see the brand," Adison said, brushing aside their long thick bangs to briefly reveal the red sunburst on his forehead. "Easier to pass unnoticed. And my voice makes people uncomfortable sometimes, but when we go to the city, we don't talk to very many strangers."

"We—Tranquil?"

"Wardens."

"Hah. True."


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> talia asks about adison's family

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (one brief line mentioning alcohol abuse at the end)

"So are you from Orlais originally? Do you have family there?" Talia asked Adison, as they sat at the end of a long wooden table eating the last meal of the day. After working for a few days on some preliminary movement exercises, Anders had deemed Adison stable enough to be helped to the dining hall if they wished; Adison agreed.

"No, I'm from Kirkwall," Adison said.

"Oh, really," Talia said, surprised. "You're quite well travelled."

"Part of being a Warden," Adison said.

"I suppose so. I've only been a Warden for a few weeks, I wouldn't know."

"I've only been to Orlais and back," Kit said through a mouthful of stew, "and that was for a _year._ "

"Still more than us," Talia said, glancing at Ketkoni and Dwinna.

"Sure saw a lot of Fereldan mud, though," Ketkoni said.

Talia smiled. "I happen to like the Fereldan mud."

"Why?" Ketkoni demanded. "What's to like about mud?"

"Mud's great fun," Kit said. "You can splash around in it, and it feels all squelchy, and it's great camouflage."

Ketkoni wrinkled their nose. "There are a million better ways of avoiding being seen than covering yourself in _mud."_

"None quite as fun, though," Dwinna said, and Ketkoni groaned.

"Not you too! When did you even have time to _play with mud_ as a noble ass?"

"Excuse me?" Dwinna said, raising her eyebrows at Ketkoni.

"You heard me," Ketkoni said, "you and your noble ass wouldnt have had time to be covered in mud."

"What about other parts of my body?" Dwinna said, and Ketkoni's face split into a grin.

" _Well—"_

" _Creators,"_ Kit exclaimed, "Are you done?"

"Never," Ketkoni said, planting a kiss on the side of Dwinna's neck.

On their other side, Talia cleared her throat, a slight blush spreading from nose to cheekbones. "Adison," she said firmly, "you never said anything about your family."

"My family comes from Kirkwall," Adison said. "I don't know where they are now."

"You don't think they're still in Kirkwall?"

"We left Kirkwall for Fereldan when I was young," Adison said. "My sister, Evelyn, stayed in the Kirkwall Circle, so she's probably still there, but me and my siblings were all sent to different circles when the Templars found out we had magic. I don't know where my father went after that."

"And your mother?" Talia asked.

"She died when I was a child."

"I'm sorry."

"Why'd they send you all to different circles?" Kit demanded, spoon poised over her stew. "If they tried to stick _me_ in a tower, I'd want to be with my family. At least here I've got Merle."

"Circle rules," Adison said. "They split up families so no one has strong attachments to anyone else."

"Ew," Kit said. "Of all the weird human shit..." They shook their head.

"Do you know where they were sent?" Talia asked.

"Not exactly," Adison said. "They didn't tell us the exact place, but they sent Jaxon to another Circle in the Free Marshes, Calder went to Nevarra, and Rose went to Ferelden."

"The Commander grew up in the Circle here, right?" Dwinna said, glancing at Talia. "Maybe he knew Rose."

"There's lots of mages in a Circle," Talia reminded her. "Even if they were in the Circle together, he might not have known them."

"Why not just ask?" Kit said, gesturing down the hall where Quentin stood talking to Zevran. "Hey, Commander!" she shouted, waving at him.

"Maker," Talia murmured, covering a somewhat horrified smile as Quentin looked over at them. Beside her, Ketkoni choked on a laugh.

"What is it?" Quentin asked, as he approached.

"We were just wondering," Kit said, "Adison says she's got a sibling in the Fereldan circle, named Rose, did you know them?"

" _Oh,"_ Quentin said, "Amell, I didn't even... yeah, I think I did." He looked at Adison, his face falling. "I'm sorry, she... she died, in the attack on the circle. The demons... so many died." His fingers clenched against his side, pressed against the fabric of his uniform. "I'm sorry," he repeated.

"It's ok," Adison said. "I'd never have known her, even if I wasn't a Warden."

"Right," Quentin said awkwardly. "I didn't know her very well, but she was nice. Wynne liked her. She said Rose was a good student."

Adison didn't make any reply to that. And after a moment, Quentin made eye contact with Zevran, and excused himself.

"People expect you to care a lot about your family," Adison commented as Quentin walked away. "Even when you barely know anything about them."

"Well you're _related_ ," Kit said, "that's just... I don't know, they're your clan, they're important no matter what, right? Or, uh, your human... not clan?" they added, making a face.

"Don't worry, my family were assholes," Dwinna said wryly.

"My sister was ok, but my mother was a useless drunk," Ketkoni added cheerfully, "so, you know. Don't worry, not everyone gives a shit about their family."

"I see," Adison said.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> wade makes adison prosthetic legs

Over the next few days, Wade began work on a pair of prosthetic lower legs. He came to find Adison periodically, taking measurements around the stumps of her legs, thighs, measuring and remeasuring his height and gait, asking any number of questions about the kind of function they needed for basic battle movements. At the end of about a week of this, Wade called Merle, Anders, and Adison into his smithing enclosure with a wide, somewhat manic look of glee. Talia gave him a somewhat concerned look as she carried Adison to a chair by Wade's workbench. "Good luck," Talia murmured to Adison, stepping around the chaotic mess to make a swift exit.

Herren stood at the other, rather neater end of the enclosure, arms crossed as he watched Wade pick feverishly through his tools. "He hasn't slept in bed for days," Herren said to Merle, with a disapproving look at Wade. "I keep finding him passed out at his work. I do hope this project of yours is finished soon."

Merle didn't have time to do more than give Herren an apologetic look before Wade stood up triumphantly. "Here we are!" he announced, holding up a puffy piece of fabric. "I'm so excited to show you what I've done, I daresay it's the best design I've come up with yet!" He practically skipped around his workbench, seizing on two curved pieces of dense material, topped by cup-like shapes. "Voilà!"

Anders peered at them skeptically. "Is that  _wood?_ How is something that thin going to hold her?"

"It's  _iron bark,"_ Wade said with a glare, "it's capable of holding  _at least_ 3 times their weight if you properly cure it." He knelt down in front of Adison; zie, Merle, and Anders watched as he cupped the fabric around the stump of one of Adison's legs, making adjustments on one of the prosthetics.

"The swelling's gone up a bit today," Anders said, craning his neck to watch Wade's hands, "try not to make, uh, however that works, too tight."

Wade waved a hand at him. "It will be fine," he said, glancing at Adison, "just tell me if it begins to hurt—" He trailed off, eyes flickered up to the centre of Adison's forehead as if he was just remembering the brand that lay under the curtain of hair. "It will be fine," he repeated.

" _That's_ reassuring," Anders muttered, looking at Adison uncomfortably.

Adison turned their head slightly, giving Anders a smile that Merle could only assume was meant to reassure. Given a total lack of emotional stimulus, they supposed there couldn't really be another reason.

As Merle watched Adison turn back to Wade, zir eyes following his frenetic movements, it occurred to Merle they didn't really know very much about Adison at all.

"Do you mind if I ask you a question?" Merle said to Adison.

Adison turned towards them, then was promptly pushed back by an impatient Wade. "Don't move, I need to make sure it goes on level!"

Merle stifled a smile.

"Go on," Adison said, head tipped toward them.

"I was wondering how you came to be a Warden," Merle said. "Most Tranquil work for the Circle, doing enchantment, or archival work. It would certainly be an easier job to continue after losing your legs," they said wryly.

"How would I lose my legs doing archival work?" Adison asked.

"Oh, right..." Merle's ears heated uncomfortably, "well, anything can happen with, uh, magic around, I suppose."

"That's true."

Adison looked unperturbed despite Merle's awkward statement,  _as Tranquil do, I suppose._ Still, Merle would almost have preferred  _some_ kind of reaction, if only to indicate what he was thinking.

"I was never good at any indoor work," Adison said after a moment, stepping neatly back into the conversation. "Senior Enchanter Florianne said I was 'distractable'. I couldn't write, or keep track of the stockroom, so I wasn't a lot of good to the Circle. When Wardens visited the tower looking for recruits, they let me go without a lot of fuss."

Merle frowned. "The Wardens recruited you without any weapon training?"

"No, my father taught me to fight, before we knew I was a mage. I was sent to the circle when I was 13."

"Then how old were you when you joined the Wardens?" Merle said, as Wade stood up.

"14."

 _Oh._  Not  _exactly_  a child, but... no, who were they kidding, that was  _far too young._

"Well, up you get," Wade said, "let's try them out!"

Merle watched as Wade and Anders helped Adison unsteadily to her feet, turned to lean on the wooden railing as they walked out across the courtyard, the wooden prostheses bending under zir weight with each step, only to spring back up as he lifted their foot. Anders trailed after, hands moving out occasionally as if to intervene, then pulling back as Adison continued.

Partway through their loop of the courtyard, there was a loud whoop as the morning patrol returned, lead by Kit (well, Kit in front—Merle had assigned Velanna to lead the patrol, but clearly even her scowls weren't enough to dampen Kit's spirits).

"Hey!" Kit called, skipping across the courtyard. "You should have  _seen_  the alpha we got today! Swingin' this giganto hammer like— _holy shit your legs!"_  Kit stared at Adison, watched as he walked slowly closer. Zie raised an arm in greeting, then flung out their arms as they overbalanced, smacking Anders right in the face. Wade grabbed her elbow, and Kit laughed, and ran over; Anders veered off, rubbing his face with a muttered comment about staying away from "that tiny ball of trouble".

"Creators, that's so cool!" Kit exclaimed, dancing around Adison. "They look kinda like bendy blades. Are they sharp?"

"No, they'd get dull very quickly from walking on them," Wade said dismissively.

"Oh. Is that iron bark? It is, isn't it?" She turned around to walk backwards ahead of Adison, staring at the prosthetics. "I've seen it in bows, but not like—shit!" The edge of her shoe caught on a raised section on the ground, and she almost fell, stumbling back. "Mythal, these damn... uh." She frowned, then gave Adison a wide eyed look. "Holy fuck, I forgot how to say something in  _common_ , that's never happened...  _semelles,_ " she muttered, " _semelles, semelles—"_

"Soles," Adison said.

"Right!" Kit exclaimed. "The soles on my shoes are coming off." Kit stopped, tipping her head towards Adison. "Hang on, you speak Orlesian?"

"Yeah," Adison said, and Kit broke into a grin.

"Fenharel's ass, I totally forgot you came from Jader, we could have been speaking Orlesian behind everyone's backs this whole time!" she exclaimed. "On va bien confondre les autres."

"Tu veux confondre les autres Gardes des Ombres?"

"Euh,  _ouais,_ que ça va être foutrement drôle."

A few metres off, Anders gave Merle a baffled look; Merle shrugged. "Kids," Anders muttered, and Merle laughed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> the ~~french~~ orlesian they're saying at the end is:
> 
> "we're totally gonna confuse the others"  
> "you want to confuse the other grey wardens?"  
> "uh, _yeah_ , it'll be fucking hilarious"


End file.
